As marketers, we sometimes make the mistake of talking about moms in purely emotional terms. In truth, they are smart, economic agents who are expertly trading in the currencies of advice and ideas. In fact, according to a recent global study by McCann Truth Central, "The Truth About Moms," the vast majority of moms see themselves as influencers within an important ecosystem that we call The Mom Economy.

In the immediate aftermath of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, our research, which analyzes online conversations across blogs and social media, found that Moms are intensely involved in how the election season is playing out.

I almost don't like to talk about "bloggers," per se, anymore as most of those creating good content these days are much more than bloggers; they're social media content creators with active profiles on the major sites and on the less popular but just as important platforms in their own niches.

Now that kids are back to school, families are focused on new daily routines and goals, making it a perfect time for marketers to reassess strategies to reach and engage today's mom. Mom is over-scheduled but not under-resourced. She's found ways to manage all the appointments and activities, to accomplish all that she and her family need. Here are five key lessons that help us connect with our 29 million moms around the globe - and five suggested assignments to help your brand rise to the top of the class.

It has been refreshing to see so many athletic brands taking their marketing-to-women and -girls efforts seriously with the most recent brand, Louisville Slugger, launching an entire campaign ("Beautifully Powerful") focused on its line of fast-pitch softball equipment. In most of these campaigns and strategies, the female athlete is front and center-but what about the athlete's mom?

Marketers like to bucket us into categories of the second life mom, the Millennial mom, Gen X moms, Gen Y moms, the vibrant mom, the survivor mom -- to name a few. The truth is, it's very hard to categorize us. We are a huge demographic. And the growing multicultural mom is barely being addressed.

Add another item to your list of what not to do when marketing to moms - compiling and publishing a list of the top influential mommy bloggers, complete with a link to your Marketing to Mom agency website.